THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 


THE  COLLECTION  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINIANA 


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18571^: 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


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ADDKESS 


DELn'ERED     BEFORE     THE 


.    pijiliratjiropir  nn^  Diiilitlir  kmlm 


tliiibeKsliij  of  ^oHli-^^tolm, 


Jun€  8,  1S57. 


BY 

HENRY   W.   MILLER.    ESQ 


•  RALEIGH: 

HOLDEX  k  WILSON,  "  STANDARD  "  OFFICE. 
1857, 


\ 


DiALircTic  Hall,  Juru  4,  lSo7. 
Sir; 

In  behalf  of  the  biidy  we  represeur,  we  beg;  leave  to  tender  our  thanks  for 
your  very  instructive,  interesting  and  able  Address  before  the  two  Literary  So- 
cieties ;   and  we  respectfully  request  a  copy  of  the  same  for  publication. 


Very  respectfully, 

JAMES   P.   COFFIN, 

WM.  C.   DOWD,  )-  Oymmlttec. 

OSCAR  F. 


OWD,  V  Oymmlt 

HADLY,    ) 


Henry  W.  jIillee,  Esq. 


Raleigh,  June  6,  lSo7. 
Gextlemex : 

In  compliance  with  the  rei:iuesi  you  make,  in  behalf  of  the   Dialectic   Society, 
I  send  a  copy  of  the  Address. 

With  sentiments  of  hijrh  regard, 

m  I  am  your  friend  and  obedient  servant, 


H.  W.  MILLER. 


To  Messrs.  Coffix, 

Down,      >  C^nmnlttee. 


Hadly 


:,! 


>  •  r 


f 


ADDRESS. 


GentUmeji  of  the  PJulanthropic  and  Dialectic  Societks: 

In  tliG  beautiful  story  of  Rasselas,  Imlac,  who  rehearses 
the  history  of  his  pilgrimage  and  adventures,  for  the  amuse- 
ment and  instruction  of  the  Prince  of  Abasyuia,  is  represen- 
ted as  longing,  after  an  absence  of  twenty  years,  to  return  to 
his  native  country,  that  he  might  repose,  after  his  travels  and 
fatigues,  amongst  those  "  with  whom  he  had  sported  away 
tlie  gay  hours  of  dawning  life."  But  how  sad  were  his  emo- 
tions on  thus  returninfy!  What  chaus-es  had  been  wrought 
in  every  thing  that  met  his  eye !  Most  of  the  companions  of 
his  youth  had  departed  ;  and  the  few  who  were  left  retained 
but  a  faint  remembrance  of  him,  or  met  him  with  cold  mdif- 
ference !  Yet,  even  with  that  sadness  were  associated  joys 
that  brought  gladness  to  his  heart. 

So,  he  who  has  been  absent  for  a  score  of  yeai-s,  from  the 
scenes  of  his  youth — from  this  "  benign  mother  "  that  nursed 
his  dawning  intellect,  and  watched  over  the  wayward  emo- 
tions of  his  youthful  heart,  cannot  expect  to  revisit  them, 
without  having  a  cloud  of  momentary  sadness  pass  across  his 
feelings.  He  listens,  in  vain,  for  those  voices  by  which  he 
was  once  welcomed,  and  looks  around,  in  disappointment,  for 
those  familiar  faces,  by  whose  smiles  he  was  greeted  !  Those, 
by  whose  side  he  sat  for  years,  and  with  whom  he  vied,  in 
honorable  rivalry,  in  the  race  of  intellectual  improvement, 
have  gone.  Where  death  has  withheld  his  fatal  dart,  the  rude 
hand  of  adversity,  or  the  alluring  smiles  of  fortune,  have  car- 
ried them  far  away  on  the  ocean  of  life  ! 

But,  still,  in  the  midst  of  the  changes  which  appear — des- 
pite the  new  garb  in  which  nearly  every  thing  around  is 
decorated,  there  is  much  that  remains  unaltered, — the  sight 
•  of  which  revives  the   remembrance  of  pleasures   that  are 


• 


gone,  and  paints  in  vivid  colors  on  the  canvass  of  memory, 
the  hfe-like  forms — the  smiling  faces  and  bright  eyes  of 
those  companions  who  are  absent !  The  ancient  bnildiugs, — 
"  wearing  the  mossy  vest  of  time  " — the  venerable  oaks, — the 
play  grouiid,  "  where  sleights  of  art  and  feats  of  strength  went 
round," — the  consecrated  spot  in  which  were  deposited  the 
remains  of  the  3'outhful  martj-rs  in  the  cause  of  science,— 
and  that  too  from  which  "  is  breathed  the  memory  of  a  good 
man's  tomb  " — come  before  him  with  all  their  varied  and  sad 
associations !  But  how  it  gladdens  his  heart  to  know,  that 
tliere  are  still  spared  some  of  those  honored  patriarchs  of 
learning" — who  are  links  between  so  many  collegiate  gen- 
erations,— rich  in  the  blessings  of  hundreds,  who  are  fight- 
ing the  battles  of  science,  virtue  and  patriotism,  in  the  armor 
which  they  buckled  around  them  within  these  walls !  Long 
may  they  live,  to  witness  the  annual  return  of  this  gladsome 
festival,  bespeaking  the  prosperity  of  an  Institution,  which, 
whilst  honoring  them,  is  also  a  source  of  so  much  just  pride 
to  every  patriotic  citizen  of  the  State.  And  may  that  Institu- 
tion herself, — so  dear  to  her  far-scattered  children, — ever 
prove,—  ^    , 

"  Of  all  that's  good  and  great, 
Of  all  that's  fair;  the  guardiau  aud  the  seat, — 
>   Kurse  of  each  brave  pursuit,  each  generous  aim, — 
BjTKCTn  exalted  to  the  throne  of  fame! '' — 

I  am  well  aware,  my  friends,  how  difficult  it  is,  on  an  occa- 

'     sion  like  this,  to  present  for  consideration  a  subject  which 

^   will  suit  the  varied  tastes  and  gratify  the  active  curiosity  of 

■'    an  enlightened  audience.     But  to  a  citizen,^and  especially 

an  educated  citizen, — of  this  great  Republic,  who  contem- 

•    plates,  with  patriotic  pride,  the  full  development  of  all  the 

*  Professors  MitcJidl  and  PhiUips,  who  have  been  long  connected  with  the  Uni- 
vei'sity,  and  to  whose  valuable  services  it  is  indebted  for  much  of  its  prosperity. 
Since  this  address  was  delivered,  the  former  has  been  snatched,  by  the  hand  ol 
death,  from  his  earthly  labors.  The  circumstances  connected  with  this  melancholy 
event,  are  well  known  to  the  public.  Truly,  was  he  a  martyr  to  the  cause  of  science! 
A  Christian  scholar,- — ardtntly  devoted  to  the  duties  of  his  high  position,  and  to  the 
interests  and  character  of  the  University,  to  which  he  was  so  great  an  ornament,— 
his  death  will  be  universally  lamented,  and  his  memory  ever  dear  to  the  friends  of 
<yJucation  aud  science ! 


.resources — moral,  intellectual  and  physical — of  his  country, 
no  subject  can  bring  more  of  interest  and  importance  than 
one,  which  presents  to  his  view  the  prospects  of  that  coun- 
try's success  and  glory,  and  which  warns  him,  in  season,  of 
those  dangers  that  threaten  its  ruin  or  disgrace. 

It  is  good,  at  all  times,  if  we  desire  to  learn  our  duty  to 
the  generation  in  which  we  live,  to  recur  to  the  teachings  of 
history.  Ko  people  cease  to  provide  for  the  prosperity  of 
their  ofispring,  so  long  as  they  look  back  v/ith  proud  interest 
to  the  achievements  of  their  ancestors.  And  it  certainly  is 
peculiarly  belitting  this  occasion,  in  view  of  the  moral  and 
political  degeneracy  now  prevailing,  and  the  ultimate  national 
disasters  with  which  we  are  threatened,  to  institute  a  rigid 
and  fearless  enquiry  into  the  character  and  strength  of  those 
tenures  by  which  we  hold  our  social  blessings  and  political 
rights.  He  who  aims  only  at  pleasing  the  fancy  or  grati- 
fying a  taste  for  novelty,  when  every  energy  should  be 
directed  to  the  safety  of  those  most  substantial  of  all  bles- 
sings and  valuable  of  all  rights,  which  society  and  govern- 
ment are  formed  to  secure  and  perpetuate,  would  not  be 
acting  less  foolish  than  the  architect  who  proceeds  t^  add 
rare  and  costly  decorations  to  a  temple,  whose  foundations 
are  at  the  very  moment  being  undermined  by  causes,  which 
if  not  counteracted,  must  ensure  its  swift  demolition ! 

We  cannot  disguise  the  fact — it  stands  out  in  bold  relief 
before  us,  and  is  presented  in  a  variety  of  forms  well  calcu- 
lated to  arouse  the  apprehensions  of  the  most  careless — that' 
to  rescue  those  great  blessings  which  we  enjoy  as  a  people, 
from  the  perils  that  environ  them,  there  must  be  called  into 
action  the  most  sleepless  vigilance,  unceasing  energy,  and 
indomitable  courage  of  the  wise,  the  good  and  patriotic  of 
the  land  ! 

To  the  consideration  of  this  great  subject,  so  important  to 
us  and  those  who  are  to  come  after  us,  I  ask  your  attention ; 
and  I  trust  we  shall  all  approach  it  with  no  partizan  feelings 
or  improper  sectional  prejudices,  but  under  the  influence  of 
those  high  and  sacred  obligations  that  rest  on  us  as  Chris 
tians  and  patriots. 


The  progess  of  the  United  States  from  the  period  when 
the  great  men  of  the  Kevohition  declared  their  indepen- 
dence to  the  present  time,  in  population,  in  commerce,  in 
agriculture,  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  in  every  thing  that 
advances  the  power  and  adds  to  the  renown  of  a  nation, 
has  no  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  world.  At  the  close  of 
the  Eevolution  their  population  numbered  something  over 
three  milhons.  In  1S55  it  had  increased  to  upwards  of 
twenty-five  millions.  In  the  year  1790,  their  imports 
amounted  in  value  to  fifty-two  millions  of  dollars.  At  the 
close  of  the  year  1855 — a  period  of  sixtj^-five  years — they 
had  increased  to  the  sum  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  milhons. 
During  the  same  period  the  exports  increased  from  nineteen 
millions  to  two  hundred  and  eighty  millions.  Their  tonnage 
during  the  same  years  rose  from  five  hundred  thousand  to 
five  millions  of  dollars  in  value.  In  the  year  1791,  the 
exportation  of  cotton  from  this  country  was  unknown.  In 
the  year  1855,  the  exports  alone  of  that  staple  amounted  to 
upwards  of  one  thousand  and  eight  millions  of  pounds — the 
value  of  which  was  estimated  at  about  ninety  millions  of 
dohars.  The  exports  of  this  sta|)le  for  the  last  year  were 
valued  at  one  hundred  and  twenty -five  millions. 

In  the  eloquent  speech  delivered  by  that  great  man, 
Edmund  Burke,  in  the  British  Parliament,  on  the  22d  of 
March,  1775,  in  favor  of  conciliation  with  the  American 
colonies,  may  be  found  this  language:  "I  pass,  therefore, 
to  the  value  of  the  colonies  in  another  point  of  view — tlieir 
agrieulture.  This  they  have  prosecuted  with  such  a  spirit, 
that  besides  feeding  plentifully  their  own  growing  multitude, 
their  annual  export  of  grain,  comprehending  rice,  had  some 
years  ago  exceeded  a  million  of  dollars  in  value.  Of  their 
last  harvest,  I  am  persuaded  they  will  export  much  more. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  century  some  of  these  colonies 
imported  corn  from  the  mother  country.  For  some  time 
past  the  old  world  has  been  fed  from  the  new.  The  scarcity 
which  you  have  felt  would  have  been  a  desolating  famine, 
if  this  child  of  your  old  age,  with  a  true  filial  piety,  with  a 


Koman  cliarity,  had  not  put  the  full  breast  of  its  youthful 
exuberance  to  the  mouth  of  its  exhausted  parent !" 

Exceeded  a  million  in  value  !  Wonderful  may  have  been 
the  fact  at  that  period,  but  how  would  the  bright  and  lofty 
imagination,  even  of  Burke,  pale  at  the  sight  of  the  riches 
which  are  noio  poured  from  the  lap  of  that  "  child"  of  the 
new  world,  into  the  granaries  and  storehouses  of  the  old  I 
How  much  more  earnestly  would  he  have  pleaded  with  a 
stubborn  and  truculent  ministry — and  how  much  more 
boldly  would  even  he — bold  and  fearless  as  he  was  in 
defence  of  her  rights — have  hurled  in  the  teeth  of  that 
ministry,  the  defiance  of  that  oppressed  "  child  of  England's 
old  age,"  could  he  have  foreseen  what  three-quarters  of  a 
century  has  brought  forth  !  In  1854  upwards  of  fifty  mil- 
lions of  dollars  in  value  of  vegetable  food  alone,  was  sent 
by  that  "  child "  to  feed  the  other  nations  of  the  earth ! 

Two  years  ago  the  United  States  stood  second  in  com- 
mercial importance  to  Great  Britain  alone.  Assuming  the 
past  rate  of  the  progress  of  these  two  powers,  as  indicating 
their  future  relative  commercial  advancement,  they  will 
become  equal  in  this  respect,  in  the  year  1863 — from  which 
period,  should  her  glorious  Constitution  and  Union  be  pre- 
served, this  country  will  stand,  amongst  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  first  in  commercial  prosperity  and  power ! 

"When  the  Convention,  to  form  the  Federal  Constitution, 
assembled  in  1T87,  there  were  not  twenty  colleges  in  the 
Union.  At  the  close  of  the  last  year  they  had  increased  to 
upwards  of  one  hundred  and  fifty — most  of  them  well 
endowed,  and  liberally  patronized,  and  having  an  aggre- 
gate of  fifteen  thousand  students.  In  1791  the  only  theo- 
logical school  in  the  Union  was  the  seminary  of  St.  Mary's, 
in  Baltimore.  Since  that  time  the  number  of  such  schools 
has  increased  to  upwards  of  fifty.  There  are  sixteen  law 
and  about  forty  medical  schools  in  the  Union — all  founded 
since  the  year  1800.  In  this  enimieration  are  not  included 
those  thousands  of  smaller  seminaries  of  education  which 
appear  in  the  intellectual  firmament  of  our  country  like  so 
many  stars  sparkling  in  the  heavens !     At  the  beginning  of 


10 

our  career  as  an  independent  nation,  there  Avas  not  a  dollar 
of  public  funds  dedicated  to  the  support  of  free  schools — to 
the  education  of  the  poor.  iSTow,  there  is  an  aggregate  fund 
of  forty  millions  of  dollars,  set  apart  by  the  several  States, 
for  that  benevolent — that  noble  object! 

A  commerce,  which  at  the  gloomy  period  preceding  the 
adoption  of  the  federal  constitution,  hardly  had  courage  and 
enterprize  sufficient  to  creep  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  is  now 
penetrating  every  land,  entering  every  harbor,  and  whiten- 
ing every  sea.  A  nation  which  at  the  dark  period  of  its 
struggle  for  independence,  against  the  greatest  military 
power  of  the  age,  could  scarcely  command  the  means  of 
clothing  the  handful  of  gallant  men,  upon  whom  its  defence 
and  salvation  depended,  has  now  a  credit  unbounded — a 
revenue  too  large  for  wise  and  economical  expenditure,  and 
sources  of  national  wealth  of  which  no  other  people  on  earth 
can  boast ! 

At  the  time  the  federal  constitution — that  master-piece  of 
political  wisdom  and  sagacity — was  formed,  the  territory  of 
the  United  States  was  contained  within  the  boundaries  of 
the  Atlantic  on  the  east,  the  lakes  on  the  north,  the  Misis- 
sippi  on  the  west,  and  the  thirty-first  degree  of  latitude  to 
the  mouth  of  the  St.  Mary's,  on  the  south.  Since  that  period 
the  acquisitions  from  Spain,  France  and  Mexico,  have  en- 
larged our  territory  to  its  present  almost  boundless  extent. 
Where  but  thirteen  States,  exhausted  in  resources  by  a  long 
and  bloody  war  for  independence,  proclaimed  our  weight  in 
the  scale  of  nations,  we  now  behold  thirty-one  States,  in- 
creasing rapidly  in  population,  and  advancing  with  aston- 
ishing strides  to  wealth,  power  and  influence.  The  territory 
of  the  United  States  contains  upwards  of  two  million  nine 
hundred  thousand  square  miles — capable  of  sustaining  a 
population,  proportionate  to  that  of  France,  of  six  hundred 
millions !  If  divided  into  States  of  equal  size,  nearly  sixty 
as  large  as  Kew  York  could  be  carved  out  of  that  territory, 
or  upwards  of  three  Mmdred  and  eighty  States  of  the  area  of 
Massachusetts ! 

Such  are  some  of  the  evidences  of  our  national  progress 


11 

and  power.  I  have  not  the  time,  were  it  necessary  to  tlie 
purpose  I  have  in  view,  to  array  with  particularity  many 
others,  equally  as  striking  and  important — how  that  nation 
has  knit  together  her  various  parts  by  iron  bands  of  inter- 
course— how  section  converses  witJi  section  on  the  wings  of 
the  lightniug — how  her  majestic  rivers  have  been  made  to 
bear  on  their  bosoms  an  internal  commerce,  the  extent  and 
value  of  which  are  contemplated  with  astonishment — how 
she  has  shot  across  the  two  oceans  in  whose  arms  she  is 
clasped,  the  beams  of  liberty  and  civilization — what  she  has 
done  towards  pouring  the  glad  tidings  of  Revelation  into  the 
benighted  regions  of  the  earth,  and  lifting  up  the  mind  of 
the  heathen  from  the  degrading  worship  of  his  l»rutish  idol 
to  the  sublime  contemplation  of  the  true  God !  Isov  need  I 
enumerate  to  you  her  intellectual  triumplis,  or  repeat  the 
illustrious  names  she  has  given  to  every  branch  of  literature, 
science  and  the  arts ! 

All  this,  gentlemen,  is  the  fruit  of  our  glorious  Constitu- 
tion— securing  peace  and  union,  and  protecting  the  rights  of 
all  sections !  It  is  the  work  too  of  but  a  life-time  1  Many 
yet  live  whose  memories  tonch  the  two  extremes  of  the  pe- 
riod. And  though  so  much  has  been  accomplished,  wdiat  an 
immense  field  is  still  open  for  patriotic  exertion  !  And  what 
a  heavy  responsibility  is  resting  on  those  whose  duty  it  is  to 
labor  in  that  field — a  responsibility  from  which  no  earthly 
power  can  absolve  them — a  responsibility  to  conscience  and 
to  glory — a  responsibility  to  posterity  and  the  world — a  re- 
sponsibility to  that  Iligh  and  Omnipotent  Tribunal,  at  the 
bar  of  which,  even  nations  will  be  called  to  answer ! 

It  is  hardly  reasonable  to  suppose  that  those  who  laid  the 
foundation  of  our  government,  with  all  their  far-reaching 
sagacity,  looked  forward,  at  the  time,  with  any  degree  of 
confidence,  to  the  successful  extension  of  the  limits  of  the 
Union  beyond  the  Mississippi.  If  any  such  thought  entered 
their  minds,  it  was  but  a  dim  shadow  of  the  future  realit}^, 
as  evanescent  as  it  was  undefined.  In  truth  there  wei-e 
many,  whose  wisdom  and  forecast  entitled  their  opinions  to 
great  weight,  that  deprecated  any  such  enlargement  of  our 


12 


domain,  as  the  foreshadowing  of  early  dissolution  and  ruin. 
But  to  the  extent  of  our  experience,  so  far,  it  is  evident  that 
all  such  apprehensions  were  not  only  visionary,  but  enter- 
tained under  a  mistaken  view  of  that  constitution  of  gov- 
ernment which  they  were  forming.  The  opinion  had  taken 
strono;  hold  on  the  minds  of  some  of  the  ablest  statesmen  of 
the  day,  that  none  but  a  strong  central  power  or  govern- 
ment, approaching,  in  its  composition,  a  monarchy,  could 
keep  together  the  various  interests  and  conflicting  views, 
jirejudices  and  pursuits  of  so  large  an  extent  of  country. 
They  were  ignorant — great  and  wise  as  they  were — of  the 
beauty  and  perfection  of  their  own  mechanism :  for,  if  ad- 
ministered according  to  its  true  spirit  and  intent, — the  fed- 
eral government  exercising  no  powers  but  such  as  are  ex- 
pressly granted,  or  which  are  necessary  to  execute  such 
granted  powers, — and  each  State  scrupulously  refraining 
from  all  interference  in  the  domestic,  civil  and  political  af- 
fairs of  her  sister  States,  there  is  no  constitution — no  form  of 
government,  ':hat  the  wit  of  man  ever  devised  or  is  capable 
of  devising,  better  calculated  to  kee^D  together  and  harmo- 
nize conflicting  interests  and  pursuits,  and  better  adapted  to 
the  expansion  of  the  territory,  and  the  enlargement  of  the 
population,  over  which  it  is  to  extend  its  control ! 

If  that  constitution  be  properly  administered  by  the  sev- 
eral departments  of  the  federal  government,  it  is  impossible 
that  any  State,  or  portion  of  the  people,  can  suffer  wrong  or 
oppression  from  those  sources.  Such  evils  cannot  arise  and 
work  out  their  disastrous  consequences,  under  the  sanction  of 
the  Constitution!  They  cannot  be  its  legitimate  offspring. 
Sophistry, — sectional  prejudices, — the  lust  of  power, — the 
dictates  of  an  unholy  ambition — may  pervert  its  meaning 
or  enlarge  its  grants,  for  wicked  and  selfish  jDurposes  and 
ends,  but  the  consequences  which  must  inevitably  follow, 
will  not  be  the  fruit  of  the  tree  which  our  fathers  planted. 
They  will  be  the  bitter  fruit  of  a  poisonous  graft.  Most 
truly  and  eloquently  has  it  been  said  by  a  great  statesman 
of  the  South,  who  was  hardly  canonized  by  death  before  the 
fatal  experience  of  the  country  proved  his  enlarged  wisdom 


13 

and  great  sagacity — "That  Constitution  presents  in  tlie 
whole,  a  political  system  as  remarkable  for  its  grandeur  as 
for  its  novelty  and  refinement  of  organization.  For  the 
structure  of  such  a  system, — so  lolse,  just  and  Ijeneficent,  we 
are  far  more  indebted  to  a  superintending  Providence,  that 
so  disposed  events  as  to  lead  as  if  by  an  inevitable  hand,  to 
its  formation,  than  to  those  who  erected  it.  Intelligent,  ex- 
perienced and  patriotic  as  they  were,  they  were  yet  but 
builders,  binder  that  great  siqyerbitendlng  direction,  P'' 

But  the  insatiable  last  of  domination  can  mar  and  ulti- 
mately destroy  the  fairest  fabric  which  the  skill  and  indus- 
try of  man  can  erect.  It  is  beyond  the  reach  of  human  in- 
genuity to  provide  by  written  constitutions  and  laws  against 
the  deceptive  forms  it  assumes,  and  the  varied  means  it 
adopts,  to  do  its  work  of  ruin  and  disaster.  The  same  spirit 
by  which  the  fallen  angel  was  actuated — "better  rule  in  Hell 
than  serve  in  Heaven  " — seems  to  have  been,  in  all  ages  and 
countries,  the  rallying  cry  of  those  artificers  of  mischief  who 
respect  no  law,  and  submit  to  no  rule  but  their  own  inordi- 
nate lust  for  personal  aggrandizement.  And  how  often  has 
religious  fanaticism  been  enlisted  to  aid  the  machinations 
and  serve  the  purposes  of  such  men !  Unfortunate  is  it  for 
the  peace  and  happiness  of  this  great  country, — unfortunate 
it  may  be  for  the  success  and  permanence  of  that  beautiful 
and  wise  system  of  government  which  the  great  men  of 
the  Revolution  established  and  transmitted  to  us,  that  they 
could  not  exclude  from  the  structure  every  material  through 
which  fanaticism  would  attempt  a  breach.  But  this  was  be- 
yond the  power  of  human  wisdom. 

ISTo  usurper,  gentlemen,  ever  attained  the  bloody  purpose 
ot  his  ambition — no  traitor  ever  betrayed  his  country  or  her 
cause — no  reckless  agitator  ever  destroyed  the  peace  of  a 
liappy  and  contented  people  or  community,  without  pre- 
senting an  excuse  sufficiently  plausible  to  justify  his  conduct, 
in  the  estimation,  at  least  of  his  wicked  and  unscrupulous 
adherents.  Cromwell,  with  his  eye  fixed  on  the  imperial 
purple,  claimed  to  be  the  chosen  of  God  to  rid  his  country 
of  the  tyranny  of  the  Stuarts.     Napoleon  grasped  and  exer- 


14 

cised  all  the  powers  of  a  Dictator,  in  the  name  and  under  the 
garb  of  devotion  to  the  liberties  of  the  people.  Arnold, 
whilst  stars  and  garters  and  titles  of  nobility  in  the  service 
of  the  enemies  of  his  country,  were  flitting  before  his  fiery 
imagination,  pleaded  the  neglect  of  that  country  in  justifi- 
cation of  his  treason.  It  cannot  be  expected  that  the  ene- 
mies of  our  Constitution  and  Union— the  fanatical  disturbers 
of  our  national  peace — should  do  otherwise  than  assume  the 
robes  of  virtue  and  justice,  proclaim  themselves  the  friends 
of  liberty  and  the  enemies  of  oppression,  to  justify  or  pal- 
iate  their  nefarious  warfare  against  that  constitution  and  the 
rights  which  it  recoo'nizes  and  was  intended  to  secure !  They 
are  but  following  the  example  of  those  who  have  preceded 
them  in  works  of  wickedness  and  ruin.  Tkuth,  however 
candid  the  air,  or  fascinating  the  garb,  in  which  she  pr-e- 
sented  herself,  has  always  been  rudely  rejected  as  hypo- 
critical and  libelous,  by  the  tyrant,  the  traitor,  and  the  fac- 
tious demagague ! 

It  is  a  lamentable,  but  stern  fact,  which  all  history  attests, 
that  republics  are  prone  to  indulge  that  indolence  and  indif- 
ference, under  the  influence  of  which  they  are  often  unable 
to  anticipate  and  provide  against  dangers.  How  long  was 
the  almost  heaven-inspired  eloquence  of  the  great  Grecian 
orator  heard,  in  thunder  tones,  before  the  Athenians  reahzed 
the  startling  fact  that  Philip  was  at  their  giites !  Nor  are 
they  less  liable  to  close  their  eyes  to  those  internal  foes, 
which  have  proved  more  fatal  to  well-regulated  liberty  than 
the  most  powerful  of  external  enemies.  The  patriotic  ap- 
peals and  prophetic  warnings  of  the  immortal  Tully,  "with 
all  the  State-wielding  magic  of  his  tongue,"  could  not  arouse 
his  countrymen  to  the  fact,  that  corruption,  treason  and  am- 
bition were  undermining  the  foundations  of  Roman  liberty 
and  paving  the  way  to  a  gigantic  despotism ! 

"What  folly  is  it  to  rely  merely  on  the  forms  of  a  consti- 
tution for  protection  and  safety,  forgetting  that  sleepless  vig- 
ilance is  the  only  safeguard  against  the  encroachments  of 
tyranny,  as  well  as  the  withering,  fatal  eftects  of  corruption ! 
No  one  was  more  firmly  impressed  with  this  great  truth  than 


15 


the  illustrious  Ilaraj^dcn,  ^vho  saw  most  clearly  that  submis- 
sion to  the  exactions  of  the  Crown,  even  in  the  most  tritiing 
particular,  would  render  the  forms  and  provisions  of  those 
great  charters  by  which  the  rights  of  Englishmen  were  in- 
tended to  be  defined  and  secured,  more  worthless  even 
than  the  parchment  on  which  they  wore  written.  He  boldly 
cast  his  life  into  the  scale  against  the  odious  ship  money — 
•'not  because  twenty  shillings  would  have  ruined  his  for- 
tune, but  because  the  payment  of  half  twenty  shillings  on 
tlie  principle  upon  which  it  was  demanded,  would  have  made 
him  a  slave !" 

Gentlemen,  it  would  be  criminal  in  us, — in  any  citizen 
who  values  the  great  blessings  we  enjoy, — to  remain  heed- 
less of  those  dangers  that  are  undermining  the  very  founda- 
tions of  our  republican  institutions,  and  propelling  us  on- 
ward to  national  ruin.  In  this  connection,  the  truth  should 
be  boldly  and  fearlessly  spoken.  It  is  demanded  by  every 
consideration  of  duty  and  patriotism ! 

The  licentiousness  of  the  public  press, — the  prevalence 
and  increasing  influence  of  a  corrupting  literature, — the  de- 
cay of  political  virtue, — the  progress  of  social  debasement, — 
the  prostitution  of  the  pulpit  to  the  fiendish  purposes  of  fac- 
tion and  sedition, — the  rank  growth  of  a  fierce  and  brazen 
infidelity, — the  reckless  appeals  and  lawless  threats  of  sec- 
tionalism, have  been  for  years  past  infusing  their  poison 
into  the  minds  and  hearts  of  a  vast  portion  of  our  people ! 

We  have  these  evils,  these  dangers,  these  enemies  of  our 
domestic  peace  and  political  prosperity  to  meet, — to  grapple 
with, — to  drive  back — to  vanquish,  or  disastrous,  desolat- 
ing in  its  efi"ects  wiU  be  that  storm  which  must  ere  long  pass, 
with  all  its  fury,  over  our  national  hopes  and  prospects  ! 

The  freedom  of  the  press  is,  indeed,  one  of  the  bulwarks 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  This  has  been  recognized  as  a 
fundamental  principle  in  all  our  bills  of  rights  and  constitu- 
tions of  government.  And  well  may  it  be  so  regarded, 
when  directed  by  truth  and  virtue,  and  influenced  by  devo- 
tion to  the  public  weal.  But  when  swayed  by  licentious- 
ness— when  discardina:  truth  and  caressino^  falsehood, — when 


16 

subsidized  by  political  agitators,  and  pandering  to  tlie  base 
passions  and  prejudices  of  the  unscrupulous  and  the  law- 
less,— there  could  not  be  invented — there  never  entered  into 
the  conception  of  the  spirits  of  Pandemonium  itself, — with 
all  their  brazen  zeal  and  wicked  ingenuity, — a  more  fiery 
and  potent  engine  of  evil.  Then,  most  truly,  is  it  a  faithful 
representation  of  the  "  snaky  sorceress  "  of  Milton — with  her 
brood  of  odious  offspring — which, 

"  Never  ceasing  bark'd 
With  wide  Cerberian  mouths,  full  loud,  and  rang 
A  hideous  peal !  " — 

To  illustrate  the  truth  of  this,  it  is  only  necessary  to  direct 
your  attention  to  a  portion  of  the  northern  press,  especially 
many  of  the  public  journals  in  those  large  cities,  in  which 
"flow  the  dregs  and  feculence  of  every  land."  Since  the 
time  John  Coster  made  known,  by  his  rude  characters  and 
images,  the  art  of  printing,  has  there  ever  been  seen  in  the 
history  of  the  press — even  in  the  most  corrupt  periods  of 
political  convulsions — anything  surpassing  these,  in  scandal, 
in  vituperation,  in  coarseness,  in  falsehood  and  wickedness  ? 
There  is  no  taste,  however  vulgar,  to  which  they  are  not  the 
ready  and  willing  caterers — no  character  is  too  elevated  for 
the  assaults  of  their  malicious  slanders — no  public  institution 
is  too  valuable  and  sacred  for  their  scurrility  and  defama- 
tion— no  rights,  social,  civil  or  religious — whether  they  be 
personal  or  relative — so  valuable  as  to  be  shielded  from  their 
iniquitous  eagerness  to  effect  tlie  social  degradation  and  po- 
litical ruin  of  those  who  enjoy  them !  The  most  minute  de- 
tails of  the  most  horrible  crimes — however  revolting  to  the 
moral  sense — are  seized  on  with  avidity,  and  sent  forth  with 
a  thrill  of  ecstacy,  to  their  hundreds  of  thousands  of  readers, 
either  to  gratify  an  already  vitiated  taste,  or  to  infuse  their 
poison  into  thousands  of  families,  which  before  were  unac- 
customed to  the  language  of  vice  or  the  scenes  of  profligacy ! 
It  is  impossible  for  such  evils  to  continue,  without  corrupting 
all  the  fountains  of  social  virtue — all  the  avenues  ol  domestic 
peace,  and  demolishing  all  the  safeguards  to  public  morals ! 


17 

Newspapers  have  heen  entitled  "  the  swift-winged  heralds 
of  an  improved  and  pi'ogressive  age/'  This  niay  be  true, 
but  how  many  of  these  "  swift-winged  heralds ''  are  but  fail- 
types  of  tlie  Hock  of  fonl  and  noisome  birds  that  liovered 
over  the  luckless  mariners  in  the  '' Fairie  Queene"  of  Spen- 
cer !     Each  has  its  appropriate  representative — 

"  The  ill-faste  owle — death's  dreadful  messengere, — 
The  hoars-nio-ht-raven,  trump  of  doleful  drere, — 
The  leufhev-winged  batt,  daye's  enemy, — 
The  rueful  screech, — still  waitins;  on  the  here, — ■ 
The  whistler  shrill, — that  whoso  hears  doth  die, — 
The  hellish  harpies, — prophets  of  sad  destiny!" 

A  loathsome  flock  indeed  ! — distilling  from  their  "■  shaggy 
wings  and  horrid  beaks"  poison,  pestilence  and  death  !  Nor 
have  we  any  '■'palmer's  magic  wand  "  by  which  they  can  be 
dispersed,  and  their  ill-omened  influence  checked  and  coun- 
teracted, unless  it  be  the  nioral  power  of  an  enhghtened  and 
"v^irtuous  public  opinion  ! 

jSTor  is  less  evil  to  be  apprehended  from  the  spread  of  that 
corrupt  literature  which  for  years  has  been  thrown  ofl"  from 
the  diseased  brain  of  its  profligate  authors,  with  a  fertility 
with  which  the  press,  even  with  its  steam-propelled  energies, 
has  hardly  been  able  to  keep  pace.  JNTo  work  of  Action, 
whatever  may  be  the  moral  of  its  story,  is  considered  too 
coarse  or  vicious  to  command  a  publisher, — nothing  which 
is  published  is  too  worthless  or  corrupt  to  rally  its  host  of 
readers — nothing  that  is  thus  read,  fails  to  enlist  scores  of  ad- 
miring puffers  ■  It  is  thus  that  principles,  ruinous  to  domes- 
tic peace  and  destructive  of  public  virtue,  are  disseminated 
with  a  stealthiness  which  enables  them  in  most  instances  to 
elude  the  observation,  and  thereby  to  escape  the  efi'orts  of 
the  virtuous  to  counteract  them.  Lamentable  indeed  must 
be  the  moral  condition  of  a  people  who  discard  the  produc- 
tions of  the  great  masters  of  a  Christian  literature  for  the 
effusions  of  the  propagandists  of  German  materialism  and 
French  infldelity.  Degraded  must  be  the  taste  of  those  who 
reject  the  invigorating,  life-giving  nourishment  which  is  im- 
parted to  the  intellect  by  the  rich  pages  of  Milton,  Addison, 

2 


IS 

Scott,  Bnrke,  Prescott,  and  their  great  compeers, — and  are 
content  to  draw  their  mental  aliment  from  the  feted  store- 
honse  of  Sue  and  his  pestifei-ous  imitators, — whose  prodnc- 
tions  creep  throngh  the  social  circle,  leaving  the  track  of 
their  moral  slime, — like  tJiat  of  "snaky  reptiles  amidst  the 
yielding  flowrets !  " 

Another  and  equally  as  dangerous  a  characteristic  of  much 
of  the  periodical  literature  which  is  issued  in  such  profusion 
I'rom  the  Northern  press,  is  its  tendency  to  engender  sec- 
tional strife,  and  infuse  sectional  prejudices  into  the  minds  of 
its  readers.  How  often  is  it  made  the  channel  of  the  most 
A  'olent  abuse, — the  vehicle  of  the  foulest  slanders  and  most 
, vindictive  assaults  on  the  institutions  of  our  own  section  ! 
Indeed,  judging  from  the  tone  and  spirit  of  many  of  these 
productions — the  avidity  with  which  they  are  read,  and  the 
industry  Avith  which  they  are  circulated, — one  would  readily 
conclude,  that  there  are  no  consequences  to  which  they  may 
lead,  however  disastrous  to  our  peace  and  security,  that 
would  not  be  hailed  by  their  authors  and  propagators  with 
rapture.  Kot  even  their  school-books  are  free  from  thig 
venom.  The  young  are  thus  taught  to  inhale,  with  the  first 
breath  of  knowledge,  the  noxious  effluvia  of  sectional  ha- 
tred. And  strange — humiliating  is  the  fact,  that  such  pub- 
lications receive  patronage  from  that  very  people  whose  ruin 
they  seek !  AVill  not  timely  warning  against  these  evils  be 
iieeded  ?  AYill  those  who  are  so  deeply  interested,  slcej)  on, 
in  the  face  of  such  facts  ?  The  glare  of  the  incendiary's 
torch  could  not  more  speedily  arouse  from  their  slumbers  the 
inmates  of  the  dwelling  whose  destruction  is  sought,  than 
should  such  fanatical  firebrands  wake  to  vigilance  and  action, 
that  people  Avhose  hearths  and  altars  they  menace  ! 

Pardon  me,  gentlemen,  for  directing  your  attention,  at  this 
point,  to  the  glaring,  the  gross,  the  inexcusable  injustice, 
which  has  been  done  your  own  State,  by  authors  who  aspire 
to  the  honor  of  being  regarded  ^''national  historians  !" 

On  the  20tli  of  May,  1775,  more  than  a  year  before  the 
congress  at  Philadelphia  proclaimed  the  American  colonies 
free  and  independent  States,  a  gallant  band  in  ISTorth-Car- 


19 

oliiia,  led  by  those  stout-hearted  patriots,  the  Brevards,  the 
Polks,  the  Alexanders,  pledged  then-  "  lives,  their  fortunes 
and  most  sacred  honor''  in  defence  of  the  independence  of 
their  country.  I  care  not  what  phrases  they  used — what  lan- 
guage they  adopted.  I  look  at  the  great  and  immortal  deed 
which  they  did !  That  is  a  fixed  fact  in  the  history  of  the 
State. 

On  the  27th  of  February,  1TT6,  the  victory  of  Moore's 
Creek  was  achieved.  That  was,  beyond  question,  one  of 
the  most  important  battles  fought  during  the  Revolution.  It 
broke  the  power  and  organization  of  the  royalists  at  the 
South.  It  expelled  the  regal  governor  from  the  State.  It 
frustrated  the  plans  of  invasion  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton — drove 
the  British  lieet  from  our  coast,  and  inspired  the  friends  of 
independence,  in  every  part  of  the  country,  wnth  conlidence 
and  patriotic  ardor! 

Yet  st]-ange  to  say,  the  "  historian  of  Washington,"  whose 
work  promised  to  be  a  faithful  record  of  our  glorious  strug- 
gle for  national  existence — in  which  the  gallant  deeds  of 
each  were  the  property  of  all — does  not  pay  those  great 
events — those  daring  blows  struck  for  independence — even 
the  cold  respect  of  a  passing  notice."  The  history  of  the 
struo-o'le  of  Greece  against  her  Persian  invaders,  without  the 
devotion  of  Leonidas  or  the  glory  of  Thermopylae ! 

In  giving  to  the  world,  and  securing  to  posterity,  a  faithful 
history  of  the  great  deeds  of  the  men  of  other  States — the 
Adamses,  the  Hancocks,  the  Henrys,  the  Warrens,  the 
Schuylers,  and  Putnams,  of  other  sections — incomprehensi- 
ble is  it,  that  one  professing  to  write  the  great  epic  of  the 
American  Revolution,  the   biography   of  Washington,    the 

*  Since  this  Address  vras  delivered,  the  fourth  volume  of  "  Irving's  Life  of  Wash" 
ingtou  "  has  come  to  hand.  In  giving  an  account  of  the  operations  of  Cornwallis 
at  the  South,  in  1780,  the  following  allusion  is  made  to  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration  ; 
"It  should  never  be  forgotten,  that  at  Mecklengburg,  in  the  heart  of  North-Carolina, 
was  fulminated  the  first  declaration  of  independence  of  the  British  crown,  upwards 
of  a  year  before  a  like  declaration  by  Congress.''  No  particulars  of  the  event — no 
names  of  the  brave  men  who  participated  in  it — are  given  !  Being  thus  uoticed  five 
years  after  its  chronological  order,  we  may  reasonably  indulge  the  hope,  that  when 
the  historian  resumes  his  labors,  and  records  "  the  Presidential  career  of  Washing- 
tou,"  he  may  remember  the  battle  of  Moore's  Creek! 


Christian  hero  of  onr  race — should  find  naught  in  the  exploits 
and  characters,  in  the  inflexible  patriotism  and  sterling  vir- 
tues of  Caswell,  Ashe,  Moore,  Liilington,  Howe  and  Brevard, 
to  command  the  justice,  if  not  to  call  forth  the  admiration 
and  gratitude  of  history !  Even  the  gallant  Nash — that 
heroic  Bayard  in  the  cause  of  independence,  who  enriched 
the  soil  of  a  distant  State  with  his  blood— falls  in  tlie  great 
conflict,  without  eliciting  a  passing  comment  on  his  bright 
and  glorious  career. 

Such  injustice  cannot  always  triumph.  The  memory  of 
the  illustrious  deeds  of  those  great  men  cannot  sleep  forever! 
There  are  indications  of  an  awakening  to  a  just  sense  of  the 
obligations  we  are  under  to  them,  and  the  honor  which  is 
due  their  achievements;  and  every  citizen  of  our  State  must 
be  cheered  by  the  assurance,  that  one  of  her  own  sons,  of 
whose  genius  as  an  orator  and  fame  as  a  writer,  we  are  all 
proud,  has  undertaken  this  labor  of  love — this  task  of  historic 
justice!  With  a  theme  worthy  of  his  eloquent  pen  and  pa- 
triotic heart,  may  he  reap  a  rich  reward  for  his  labors,  in  the 
gratitude  of  that  people,  the  deeds  of  whose  ancestors  he 
seeks  to  rescue  from  oblivion  and  enshrine  in  the  recollection 
and  veneration  of  the  good  ! 

But  let  us  recur  again  to  the  dangers  which  threaten  us. 
It  cannot  be  successfully  controverted,  in  the  face  of  the 
proofs  which  are  constantly  arising,  that  some  sections  of  our 
country — I  speak  not  in  unkindness — are  becoming  the  nur- 
series of  many  of  the  most  dangerous  and  disorganizing  doc- 
trines, moral,  social  and  political,  with  which  virtue  and 
truth  have  ever  yet  been  challenged  to  contend.  And  who 
has  not  been  struck  with  the  power  of  reproduction — the  in- 
exhaustible fruitfulness,  which  in  many  instances,  marks  the 
progress  of  these  doctrines — the  readiness  and  facility  with  " 
which  they  assume  a  position  in  the  social  and  political  or- 
ganization, and  the  irresistible  sway  which  they  speedily  ac- 
quire not  only  over  the  ignorant,  but  over  many  of  the  best 
cultivated  minds !  Fourierism,  with  its  train  of  levelling 
precepts  and  degrading  purposes;  Freeloveism,^  that  moral 
leper,  striking  with  fiendish  delight,  at  the  very  foundations 


21 


of  domestic  virtue,  and  aiming  its  deadly  blows  at  the  deli- 
cate yet  sacred  pulsations  of  the  social  heart;  Mor'UionisiUy 
that  hyena  of  modern  debasement,  the  consequences  of  whose 
i*avages  no  man  can  contemplate  without  horror,  who  values 
those  most  inestimable  of  all  jewels,  domestic  peace  and 
social  happiness,  and  who  reverences  that  great  law,  that 
sacred  command  of  nature  and  nature's  God,  upon  which  all 
good  government  is  based,  and  witliout  which  society  itself 
would  be  a  curse  ;  Sj/iritualism,  that  newly  discovered  link, 
that  electric  wire  between  the  fell  spirits  of  darkness  in  the 
lower  world,  and  their  most  apt  ]>upils  and  faithful  agents 
and  representatives  in  this;  Abolltionisrn^  that  modern  mo- 
loch  of  political  and  religious  fanaticism,  whose  insatiable 
wrath  is  sought  to  bo  appeased  by  the  sacrifice  of  our  rights, 
our  happiness,  and  our  honor,  and  the  destruction  of  the  na- 
tional peace ;  these  are  but  samples  of  that  brood  of  liarpies 
which  are  preying  on  the  very  vitals  of  the  social  and  polit- 
ical organization  of  some  sections  of  our  country,  and  which, 
unless  promptly  cliecked  in  their  career  of  mischief,  must 
hasten  that  desolation,  moral,  social  and  political,  which  they 
are  seeking  with  so  much  persevering  eagerness  and  such 
envenomed  rapacity ! 

Nor  is  the  dowmvard  tendency  of  social  and  civil  organi- 
zation in  some  sections  of  our  country  less  strikingly  illus- 
trated in  the  decay  of  ^>?^i//c  virtue.  When  before  did  your 
national  legislature,  to  which,  in  times  past,  every  American 
citizen  turned  with  pride  and  coniidence,  present  such  a  hu- 
mihating  spectacle  as  it  did  but  a  few  months  since?  Tlie 
house  of  representatives,  besieged  for  years  b}'  a  swarm  of 
speculators,  stockjobbers  and  intriguers,  with  their  debased 
and  cunning  agents,  eager  for  public  plunder — the  scene 
closed  with  the  virtual  conviction  of  three  of  its  members  of 
corruption  and  briber}^ !  The  national  senate  too — that  cit- 
adel of  the  rights  of  the  States,  and  the  freedom  of  the 
people — that  body  once  honored  by  the  genius  and  patriot- 
ism of  Clay,  Calhoun,  Webster,  Wright  and  other  noble 
spirits,  now,  alas !  gathered  forever  to  their  fathers — that 
body,  subjected  to  the  mortifying  alternative  of  considering- 


a  memorial  from  upwards  of  forty  members  of  a  State  legis- 
lature charging  one  of  its  own  members  with  having  attained 
his  high  position  by  bribery  ! 

"Every  man  has  his  price,"  exclaimed  Walpole ;  and  where 
men  sink  their  country's  good  in  the  success  of  party — where 
the  emoluments  of  office  become  the  rewards  of  partizan  ser- 
vices alone,  and  every  higher  aspiration  and  nobler  emotion 
is  swallowed  up  in  the  struggle  for  riches, — where  the  cmri 
sacra  fcnnes  directs  every  impulse  and  controls  every  action, 
that  maxim  of  the  shrewd  English  statesman  will  hold  a 
prominent  and  ruling  place  in  political  ethics,  and  the  cor- 
ruption fund  of  politicians  will  seldom  remain  idle  for  the 
want  of  men — rtien  ! — ci'eattires  rather,  bearing  the  forms  ol 
men,  on  whose  brows  is  stamped  the  self-debasing,  self- 
damning  advertisement  of  their  own  political  venaHty  ! 

What  a  fatal  degeneracy  from  that  stern  and  inflexible 
virtue — that  lofty  independence  and  noble  patriotism  which 
illustrated  the  principles  and  conduct  of  legislators,  during 
the  early  days  of  the  republic ! 

Bolingbroke,  living  in  an  age  when  political  corruption 
was  rife,  remarked  "  He  who  undertakes  to  govern  a  free 
people  by  corruption,  cannot  boast  the  honoi  of  the  inven- 
tion. The  experiment  is  as  old  as  the  w^orld,  and  he  can  pre- 
tend to  no  other  honor  than  that  of  being  an  humble  imitator 
of  the  Devil ! " 

Whatever  may  be  properly  deducible  from  the  condition 
of  things  during  the  age  of  Bolingbroke,  it  is  not  unreasona- 
ble to  suppose  that  even  the  Prince  of  Darkness  himself 
would  hardly  regard  it  a  compliment  to  be  held  responsible 
for  the  innumerable  low,  cunning,  debasing  schemes  of  cor- 
ruption which  are  fashionable  amongst  so  manj'  politicians  in 
this  age  of  progress — an  age  "  well  schooled  in  crooked 
policy  and  quirks  of  State !" 

But,  gentlemen,  if  there  is  any  one  cause,  which  more 
than  others  is  calculated  to  arouse  the  apprehensions  of 
every  patriot,  it  is  that  sectional  animosity — that  bitter  fra- 
ternal strife,  which  has  prevailed  for  years  past,  increasing 
to  a  degree  of  intensity  which  threatens  to  make  implacable 


m 

enemies  of  those,  who,  looking  to  the  same  government  for 
protection,  should  regard  the  prosperity  and  honor  of  that 
government,  their  noblest  pride,  as  it  assuredly  is  their  high- 
est interest.  It  is  folly — it  is  madness  to  suppose  that  our 
present  system  of  government  can  be  preserved  and  perpet- 
uated on  the  principle  t/iat  this  Union  is  to  he  licpt  togdhtr 
by  force  !  Those  who  framed  it  foresaw,  most  clearly,  that  a 
resort  to  force  between  the  States,  or  the  application  of  force 
on  the  part  of  the  federal  government  ((gainst  the  States, 
would  produce  a  revolution  which  must  sweep  away  the  sys- 
tem itself.  It  was  not  the  purpose  of  our  fathers  to  establish 
a  government  which  was  to  be  dependent  on  the  strong  arm 

•  of  military  power  to  sustain  itself  in  the  varied  conflicts  be- 
tween the  ditferent  States  and  sections.  Seeking  to  establish 
it  on  well-defined  principles  of  civil  policy — on  Constitu- 
tions and  laws — the  will  of  a  majority  clearly  and  fairly  ex- 
pressed— they  relied  on  the  virtue,  the  patriotism,  the  affec- 
tion of  the  people  to  preserve  that  system,  by  a  faithful  ad- 
herence to  those  Constitutions  and  a  strict  observance  of 
those  laws  in  their  true  spirit.  They  intended  that  reason 
and  affection  should  bo  the  corner-stone  of  the  edilice.  They 
looked  to  the  mild  and  peaceful  operations  of  the  principles 
of  Christianity,  and  not  the  wild  and  spasmodic  action  of 
heathen  or  intidel  precepts — to  the  law  of  love  and  not  the 
law  of  FORCE, — to  shield  it  from  the  evils  and  protect  it  from 
the  ruin  which  has  befallen  every  other  system  of  govern- 
ment from  the  factious  democracies  of  Greece  to  the  fiery 
despotism  of  ISTapoleon,  When  that  great  principle,  l.ying 
at  the  very  foundation  of  our  Union  is  lost  sight  of — dis- 
carded— repudiated — and  the  lust  of  sectional  domination, 
the  law  of  force,  is  substituted  in  its  stead,  and  made  the 
main-spring,  the  motive  power  of  social  and  political  ac- 
tion, the  fate  of  our  national  constitutionals  sealed,  and  the 
downfall  of  the  republic  is  inevitable  !     It  may  maintain  the 

forms  of  what  our  forefathers  intended  it  to  be,  but  it  will 
have  lost  its  reality.  The  shadow  of  a  federal  representa- 
tive republic  may  still  linger,  but  it  wn'll  soon  pass  away,  to 
give  place  to  an  inexorable,  overshadowing,  consolidated  des- 


2i 


potism  !  During  tlie  Hevolutionary  war,  one  of  the  most 
sagacious  statesmen  of  England,  whilst  contemplating  the 
probability  of  a  final  severance  of  the  colonies  from  the 
mother  country,  exclaimed — "  The  cement  of  reciprocal  es- 
teem and  re<jard  can  aJo/ie  T)lnd  together  the  'parts  of  this  great 
falrric!''''  How  much  more  necessary  is  the  "cement  of  re- 
ciprocal esteem  and  regard  ''  to  preserve  our  Union — to  keep 
together  tlds  great  fabric  of  government!  Destroy  that  ce- 
ment— that  esteem  and  regard  between  the  diti'erent  sec- 
tions— and  the  fabric  crumbles, — or,  if  kept  together  by  the 
iron  bands  of  military  force,  it  can  no  longer  be  the  abode, 
the  citadel  of  freedom,  but  becomes,  at  once,  the  fortress  of 
tyranny — the  prison  house  of  despotism ! 

Washington,  in  tliat  most  invaluable  legacy  of  patriotic 
advice,  which  he  left  his  countrymen,  was  not  content  with 
warning  them  against  "the  frightful  despotism  of  party  spirit 
generalhj'''—\XvA.i  "alternate  domination  of  one  faction  over 
another,  sharpened  by  the  spirit  of  revenge,  which  in  dif- 
ferent ages  and  countries  has  perpetrated  the  most  horrid 
enorinities," — but  most  pointedly  and  eai-nestly  did  he  en- 
treat them  to  beware  of  "parties  founded  npon  geographiccd 
discrhninations?''  He  looked  foi-wai'd  to  that  condition  of 
things  with  deep  and  fearful  apprehension,  and  his  great — • 
his  magnanimous  soul  swelled  with  patriotic  zeal  and  earnest- 
ness when  appealing  to  his  countrymen  "to  frown  indig- 
nantly u|)on  the  first  dawnings  of  such  a  spirit."  Hardly 
sixty  years  elapsed  from  the  period  when  such  warnings  were 
nttered  before  that  fearful  crisis  came  !  In  the  full  blaze  of 
those  bright  hopes  which  arose  from  all  nations,  for  the 
success  of  onr  expei'iraent  of  free  government,  that  cloud, 
charged  with  every  element  of  disaster,  overhung  the  hori- 
zon !  Its  fury  has  not  yet  been  spent.  Its  final,  fatal  con- 
sequences are  ^-et  hidden  from  our  view  !  ^Vhen  its  pent  np 
wrath  is  to  be  discharged — scattering  its  fiery  desolation  and 
blasting  all  that  is  lovely  and  valuable  m  the  rich  inheritance 
bequeathed  ns  by  the  immortal  Washington  and  his  compa- 
triots, no  human  foresight  can  tell ! 

And   this   party   of  "  geographical   discrimination  " — this 


35 

array  of  oi'ganized  sectionalism,  is  based  solely  on  hostility 
to  our  institntions — our  peace — our  rights,  as  a  component 
part  of  this  great  nation,  and  aims  at  our  disgrace  and  rnin  ! 
It  seeks,  by  a  sectional  trinmph,  to  convert  the  national  gov- 
ernment into  an  engine  for  the  ]^olitical  snbjngation  and 
social  dishonor  ot  one-half  the  States  of  this  Union.  Kor 
has  it  lett  nntried  any  means  by  which  its  designs  may  be 
accomplished  and  its  ends  secured.  The  press,  the  hustings, 
the  halls  of  Congress,  even  the  pnl]>it — all  have  been  con- 
verted into  so  many  batteries  of  hery  assault !  Yes,  that 
sacred  place,  from  which  should  ever  issue  words  of  peace 
and  good  will  to  man,  consecrated  as  it  should  be,  to  the  pre- 
cepts of  universal  love,  has  been  pi'ostituted  to  the  wicked 
purposes  of  faction,  and  to  the  inculcation  of  sectional  bit- 
terness and  social  strife  !  Abandoning  their  sacred  calling — 
ceasing  "  to  spread  the  treasured  stores  of  truth  divine  " — 
men  professing  to  be  ministei's  of  the  gospel  of  peace,  have 
converted  their  holy  olhces  into  instruments  to  arouse  the 
most  lawless  passions,  and  to  instil  into  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  their  disciples,  the  most  fanatical  rancor,  the  most  deadly 
hatred  towards  their  own  countrymen  and  kindred — country- 
men stilly  thank  God  !  at  least  in  all  the  proud  recollections 
of  the  j)ast — kindred  in  blood,  as  they  should  be,  kindred  in 
affections ! 

That  was,  beyond  doubt,  the  severest  blow  which  has  yet 
been  inflicted  on  the  cause  of  social  peace,  good  government, 
aud  sound  religion  !  Are  the  men  who  instigated,  directed, 
dealt  it,  mad?  Do  they  presume  that  the  position  they  oc- 
cupy consecrates  the  crime,  the  treason,  into  which  they  are 
rushing?  Have  they  calculated  the  consequences  into  which 
they  are  hurrying  their  infatuated  followers?  Have  they 
contemplated  the  blackness  of  that  gulf  into  which  they 
would  plunge  the  country?  The  blasting  curse  of  millions 
should  fall  on  the  heads  of  men,  who  thus  assume  "the  liver}- 
of  heaven  "  to  serve  the  purposes  of  hell — who  wrap  tliem- 
selves  in  the  garments  of  religion  to  propagate  and  give  force 
and  effect  to  doctrines,  and  to  disseminate  prejudices,  which 
must  lead  to  civil  war,  to  fraternal  bloodshed,  to  the  dissolu- 


tion  of  this  Union,  to  tlie  ruin  of  the  republic,  to  the  extin- 
guishment of  the  last  hope  of  free  institutions ! 

Rely  upon  it — rely  upon  it,  gentlemen,  as  a  fixed,  immu- 
table, never-dying,  all-pervading  tkuth,  this  Union,  this  gov- 
ernment, and  the  great  blessings  they  were  intended  to  se- 
cure, cannot  last,  cannot  be  perpetuated,  if  our  religion  is  to 
be  debased  and  corrupted — if  Christianity  is  to  be  superseded 
or  its  divine  influence  destroyed  !  Let  the  pulpit  but  cease 
to  be 

"The  most  important  and  effectual  guard 
Support  and  ornament  of  virtue's  cause." 

Let  it  be  diverted  from  the  defence  and  maintenance  of 
Christianity  and  made  subservient  to  the  propagation  of  par- 
tizan  animosity  and  sectional  rancor — let  its  occupants  dash 
away  their  commissions  as  "heralds  of  the  cross,"  and  put 
on  the  insignia  of  noisy,  fiictious,  intriguing  demagogues,  and 
the  door  to  the  most  brazen,  the  blackest  iniidelity  will  be 
thrown  wide  open !  From  that  position  there  will  be  but 
one  step  to  the  awful  excesses  and  horrors  that  marked  the 
career  of  the  French  Revolution ! 

There  is,  unquestionably,  gentlemen,  a  point  of  endurance 
beyond  which  forbearance  becomes  cowardice  and  submis- 
sion crime.  With  nations,  as  it  is  in  social  intercourse,  a 
tame  submission  to  wrong  not  only  results  in  dishonor  to  the 
oppressed,  but  imparts  boldness  to  the  spirit  of  tyranny  in 
tlie  oppressor.  When  a  people  have  forfeited  their  own  self- 
respect — their  honor — they  become  fit  subjects  to  gratify  the 
lust  of  domination  in  others.  The  fact  of  being  united  under 
the  same  government,  for  general  purposes,  does  not  alter  or 
annul  this  great  rule  of  social  organization.  Self-preserva- 
tion should  be  the  first  law  of  civil  government,  as  it  is  of 
our  social  nature.  Aggressions  which  would  be  just  causes 
of  war  between  independent  nations,  cannot  be  expected  to 
result  in  less  than  alienation  and  distrust  under  a  system  like 
ours.  Are  we  expected  to  submit  with  blind  pusilanimity  to 
the  assaults  which  are  incessantly  made  on  our  social  peace 
and  civil  rights?     Is  not  the  cup  of  forbearance  already  hrim 


27 

full  ?  Can  we  be  true  to  others — to  the  government  under 
whicli  we  Hve — if  we  are  false  to  ourselves  f 

In  view  of  the  dangers  threatened — in  the  lace  of  the 
wrongs  in  store — what  do  the  sacred  obhgations  of  duty  to 
ourselves  and  our  posterity  demand  at  our  hands?  Union — 
the  union  of  her  whole  people,  for  the  full  development  of 
all  her  resources — moral,  intellectual  and  physical — can  alone 
save  the  South  from  the  dangers  which  are  impending.  To 
each  and  all  alike  there  is  one  danger  and  one  safety  !  How- 
ever conflicting  our  opinions  may  be  on  questions  of  mere 
expediency  or  policy,  on  those  involving  her  riglits,  her 
honor,  her  safety,  her  very  existence  as  a  people, — there 
should  be  no  difference,  no  conflict,  no  wrangling,  no  waver- 
ing !  Union  in  hand  and  heart — union  in  will  and  desire — 
union  in  purpose  and  action,  is  the  only  bulwark  of  her 
strength — the  only  citadel  of  her  safety !  To  waste  her  en- 
ergies in  idle  and  angry  discussion  with  her  adversaries  on 
those  great  issues,  would  be  playing  a  part  more  foolish  than 
did  the  monkeys  in  Sinbad,  in  dashing  the  cocoanuts  at  their 
enemies ! 

"  Divide  and  conquer,"  has  been  the  stern  maxim  of  north- 
ern aggressiveness  from  the  days  of  Alaric  and  Attila  to  the 
present  period.  The  destruction  of  Carthage  was  not  more 
inflexibly  resolved  on  by  Roman  cupidity  and  ambition,  than 
is  our  social  and  political  degradation  desired  and  sought  by 
the  lawless  spirit  of  northern  fanaticism !  We  should  be 
false  to  ourselves — false  to  the  cause  of  free  government  and 
human  civilization — recreant  to  the  memory  of  our  fathers — 
aye,  traitors  to  our  own  hoiiseholds,  were  we  to  neglect  to 
prepare  for  that  struggle  which  is  foreshadowed  by  events 
that  are  passing  around  us.  Were  we  to  act  thus,  well  might 
the  humblest  of  our  people  exclaim,  in  the  language  of  the 
Tliane  of  Scotland,  as  the  eftects  of  the  tyranny  of  Macbeth 
rose  to  his  view, 

"  Alas,  poor  country  ! 
Almost  afraid  to  know  itself.     It  cannot 
Be  called  our  motfter,  but  our  grave!" 


28 

Let  me  not  be  misunderstood,  I  urge  the  nnion  of  tlie 
people  of  the  South,  not  for  the  purpose  of  aggression  and 
wrong  to  others,  but  for  protection  and  safety  to  themselves; 
not  to  engender  sectional  prejudices  and  encourage  fraternal 
strife,  but  to  ensure  peace  and  harmony  ;  not  to  loeakcn  the 
bonds  of  our  national  Union,  but  to  strengthen  them,  by  stay- 
ing the  march  of  tanaticism  ;  not  in  the  spirit  of  empty  bra- 
vado, but  under  the  influence  of  that  calm  resolution  and 
indomitalile  courage  which  in  all  ages  has  ever  been  able  to 
set  at  defiance  and  drive  back  the  power  of  wrong  and  in- 
justice! "  By  an  eternal  law,"  sa3's  a  great  man,  "Provi- 
dence has  decreed  vexation  to  violence  and  poverty  to  ra- 
pine !"  The  spirit  which  is  now  threatening  our  rights,  our 
peace,  our  safety,  the  security  of  our  very  hearths,  is  worse 
than  that  of  violence  and  rapine  combined  !  It  adds  to  those 
crimes  othei's  of  far  blacker  malignity,  treachery  to  friends, 
a  repudiation  of  solemn  compacts,  a  determination  to  stab 
whilst  professing  to  embrace  ! 

And  what  stronger  inducements,  gentlemen,  could  operate 
on  the  human  heart,  than  those  which  appeal  to  every  cit- 
izen of  the  South  ?  No  country  on  earth  possesses  in  a  higher 
degree  all  the  elements  of  wealth,  power  and  greatness. 
With  a  soil  of  inexhaustible  fertility,  yielding  every  variety 
of  production,  intersected  at  all  points  by  navigable  streams, 
with  immense  water  power,  with  some  of  the  best  harbors  in 
the  world,  with  mineral  resources  unsurpassed,  w^ith  territory 
adequate  to  a  population  of  more  than  two  hundred  millions 
of  souls;  blessed  in  fine  with  everything  that  a  bounteous  na- 
ture can  bestow,  nothing  is  needed  to  make  her  pre-eminent- 
ly a  prosperous,  powerful  people,  but  union,  industry,  energy, 
enterprize,  and  that  high,  indomitable,  self-sustaining,  self- 
reliant  patriotism,  which  will  press  her  onward  to  a  full  de- 
velopment of  all  her  resources  !  With  a  population  of  ten 
millions  only,  on  an  area  of  nearly  a  million  of  square  miles, 
what  a  vast  space  exists  between  what  she  is  and  what  she  is 
capable  of  becoming  !  With  half  the  industry  which  has  cover- 
ed "as  with  a  velvet  carpet  the  slopes  of  the  Alps,"  with  a  tithe 
of  the  energ}^  which  bridled  the  stormy  waters  of  the  German 


29 

Ocean,  and  rescned  from  the  waves  one  of  the  most  fertile 
conntries  of  the  globe,  and  studded  it  with  cities,  the  im- 
agination staggers  under  the  assurance  of  what  she  maj  be- 
come as  a  people  ! 

A  distinguished  European  statesman  remarks  :  "  If  we 
imagine  an  universal  confederacy  of  nations,  we  shall  no 
longer  iind  sufhcient  motive  for  exertion  to  promote  the  pros- 
perity, independence  and  power  of  eac/c^ 

Here  lies  the  danger  to  the  individual  States  of  this  con- 
federacy !  The  glory  of  each  in  its  appropriate  sphere,  lost 
sight  of,  eclipsed,  obscured,  under  the  more  dazzling  bright- 
ness of  the  glory  of  the  whole  !  The  result  follows,  the  pro- 
gress of  the  nation  is  impaired  by  the  want  of  devotion  to 
the  interest  and  honor  of  the  State  in  which  we  live.  The 
smallest  planet,  "  wheeling  unshaken  through  the  void  im- 
mense," is  no  less  a  part  of  the  great  system  of  the  universe, 
because  the  gorgeous  king  of  day  sends  forth  his  rays  in  all 
their  splendor.  It  is  the  beauty  and  lltness  of  each,  revolv- 
ing in  its  appointed  orbit,  as  well  as  the  harmony  of  the 
whole,  which  proclaims,  not  only  the  wisdom  of  the  design, 
but  the  power  of  its  Great  Architect ! 

It  is  by  cultivating  the  social  affeclions — by  observing, 
respecting  and  strengthening  the  ties  of  kindred  and  of 
friendship,  that  we  learn  with  clearness  and  fnlill  with 
alacrity,  our  duties  to  the  State.  Devotion  to  the  former 
is  not  more  consistent  with  the  prosperity  of  the  latter,  than 
neglect  of  our  duties  and  obligations  to  the  State  is  incom- 
patible with  the  safety  and  glory  of  the  Union  !  Cueran, 
in  his  eloquent  appeal  to  Ireland,  to  he  true  to  herself]  ex- 
claimed, "  It  is  in  vain  to  say  you  will  protect  the  freedom  of 
Britain,  if  you  aljandon  your  own.  The  pillar,  whose  base 
has  no  foundation,  can  give  no  support  to  the  dome  under 
which  its  head  is  placed," 

Forgetting,  then,  and  casting  to  the  winds,  in  view  of  the 
momentous  issue  presented,  all  minor  differences  of  opin- 
ion, let  us,  I  entreat  you,  unite, — unite  as  country7ne7i,  in 
improving  the  vast  advantages  with  which  we  have  been 
blessed — in  educating  our  youth — in  cultivating  a  pure  and 


high-toned  literature — in  enconraging  the  arts  and  sciences—- 
in  nnrturing  the  precepts  of  Christian  love — in  inspiring  the 
hearts  of  our  people  with  an  elevated  patriotism,  a  bold 
spirit  of  independence  and  self-reliance—in  building  up  and 
sustaining  institutions  of  learning  and  benevolence — in  de- 
veloping our  agricultural  and  manufacturing  resources — in 
breaking  the  chains  of  that  commercial  thraldom  which  have 
so  long  bound  us  I  Then,  indeed,  whilst  true  to  ourselves — 
whilst  erecting  around  our  rights  a  wall  far  stronger  than  ad- 
amant against  the  inroads  of  fanaticism,  we  shall  become  the 
vanguard  of  safety — the  right  arm  of  strength  to  the  Union 
of  the  States,  and  to  the  great  cause  of  constitutional,  repre- 
sentative government ! 

Gentlemen,  we  cannot  evade  the  high — the  weighty  re- 
sponsibility imposed  on  us,  by  the  age  in  which  we  live,  by 
the  events  that  are  passing  around  us,  by  the  recollection  of 
tlie  past,  by  tlie  prospects  of  the  future !  The  very  bles- 
sings vre  enjoy — the  dangers  that  threaten  them, — every 
thing  that  can  enliven  our  hopes  or  arouse  our  fears, — all 
that  can  ennoble  by  a  fearless  jDcrformance,  or  degrade  by  a 
cowardly  abandomeut  of  duty — all  we  hear,  and  see  and  feel 
in  the  midst  of  that  storm  of  difficulties  and  trials  which  en- 
compass uSj — invoke  us  to  vigilance  and  incite  us  to  action  ! 

There  is  much  that  is  truly  and  most  strikingly  sublime 
surrounding  the  history  of  that  country  in  wdiich  our  lot  has 
been  cast.  Who  can  contemplate  it  without  seeing  the 
guidauce-^the  working  of  an  Almighty  arm?  AVhilst  the 
empires  of  the  old  woi'ld  were  rising  in  grandeur  and  power, 
and  successively  fading  away  under  the  grasp  of  corruption 
and  ambition  ;  whilst  the  whole  Christian  world  was  rocked 
to  and  fro  by  the  mighty  conflict  it  waged  for  centuries  with 
the  Moslem  power  of  the  East ;  whilst  Europe  w^as  slowly 
emerging  from  the  cloud  of  ignorance  and  barbarism,  in 
which  it  had  been  so  long  enveloped,  this  vast  country, 
now  smiling  with  the  fruits  of  industrj^,  and  rejoicing  in  the 
rich  trophies  of  civilization,  lay  embosomed  in  the  sublime 
repose — the  undisturbed  solitude  of  nature  !  The  genius  of 
one  man  threw  open  the  door  to  its  approach,  and  it  sprang 


31 

into  view  like  a  new  creation.  Its  rude  tenanrs,  as  wiki 
and  uncultivated  as  the  vast  forests  and  loftv  mountains  over 
which  they  had  so  long  roamed,  unrestrained  by  government 
and  untrammeled  by  laws,  gave  Avay  on  the  advance  of  sci- 
ence— religion  and  civilization.  Those  who  took  tlieir  place? 
were  a  hardy,  stern,  energetic  race,  of  resolute  purpose  and 
indomitable  will.  Their  history  had  l)een  one  of  trials,  diffi- 
culties and  dangers.  They  had  been  educated  in  the  school 
of  a  harsh  and  severe  experience.  They  had  fled  from  civil 
and  religious  persecution.  The  wilderness,  with  freedom  of 
thought  and  unmolested  worship  of  God,  had  higher  charms 
for  them  than  all  the  refinements  and  glitter  of  European  so- 
ciety, with  the  weight  of  civil  and  religious  tyranny  press- 
ing their  energies  to  the  earth,  and  enslaving  their  con- 
sciences. When  they  came  hither,  they  brought  with  them, 
retained  and  cultivated  those  principles  of  free  government, 
in  defence  of  which  so  many  noble  spirits  had  fallen  martyrs 
in  the  countries  from  which  they  fled.  The  names  of  Hussell, 
of  Sidney,  of  Hampden,  inspired  their  hearts  with  contidence 
and  boldness.  The  doctrines  for  which  they  had  so  fearlessly 
contended  took  deep  root  and  spread.  The  great  and  final 
conflict  at  last  came.  It  brought  with  it  trials  and  suftering-s 
well  calculated  to  appal  the  stoutest  heart.  They  equalled 
any  that  marked  the  struggles,  which,  in  former  ages,  had 
been  waged  by  right  and  justice  against  oppression  and 
wrong.  To  all  but  a  handful  of  gallant,  imconquerable 
spirits,  the  issue  was  one  full  of  doubt  and  uncertainty.  The 
despondency  which  fell  on  many,  only  aroused  new  energy 
and  enkindled  more  indomitable  resolution  in  the  hearts  of 
those  who  saw,  afar  ofl'  through  the  smoke  and  carnage  of 
battle,  the  light  of  victory.  The  same  spirit  that  enabled 
them  to  triumph  over  a  foreign  foe,  secured  them  another 
triumph,  yet  more  glorious,  because  the  more  difficult — a  tri- 
uinjyli  over  themselves,  a  triumph  over  passion  and  preju- 
dice— over  selfishness  and  ambition — over  anarchy  and  li- 
centiousness! From  confusion,  sprang  order;  from  sec- 
tional animosity  and  dissention,  concord  and  union ;  from 
weakness,    strength ;    from    prostrate    credit  and   shattered 


32 

finances,  national  wealtli,  and  inexhaustible  sources  of  rev- 
enue !  The  nations  of  the  earth  gazed  in  astonislnnent  as 
upon  a  new  sun  "  risen  on  midnoon."  To  the  political  sys- 
tem of  the  world,  it  was  the  fixing  in  its  orbit  a  new  planet, 
producing  alarm  and  confusion  at  first,  but  destined  in  the 
end  to  secure  more  perfect  harmony  and  greater  security. 
iSTew  ideas  were  spread  abroad, — new  principles  asserted 
their  I'ight  to  supremacy, — new  theories  of  government  were 
proclaimed,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  monarchies  and  des- 
potisms of  Europe  !  Old  political  systems  were  shaken, — old 
institutions  crumbled  away.  There  stood  out  in  imposing 
prominence  before  the  civilized  world,  a  practical,  living, 
speaking  refutation  of  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of 
Kings.  Few  were  found  bold  enough  to  re-assert  the  pre- 
rogative claimed  by  Louis  XIV  of  France — "  I  am  the 
State  !"  Every  struggle  for  free  government — every  uprising 
of  the  people  against  tyranny — every  movement  towards 
popular  institutions— every  check  given  to  oppression  and 
wrong,  since  that  period  were  but  emanations — waves, 
from  that  Revolution  which  resulted  in  the  achievement  of 
our  independence  and  the  establishment  of  our  government ! 
It  is  the  height  of  folly  to  attempt  to  measure  the  cycle  of 
the  immense,  ever-spreading,  never-ceasing  influence  of 
that  Kevolution,  by  a  meter  that  would  hardly  encircle  a  sin- 
gle human  passion  or  emotion  !  Who  can  estimate — who 
can  measure — who  can  limit  that  influence  ?  It  has  infused 
itself  into  the  whole  social,  moral  and  political  element  of 
the  world !  In  humble  submission  to  the  Divine  AYill,  we 
can  but  hope  that  it  may  secure  to  our  land — • 

"A  thousaud  thousaud  blessings, 
Which  time  shall  bring  to  ripeness  : — 

'Till  our  children's  children 
Shall  see  them,  and  bless  Heaven!" 

"The  time  will  come,"  exclaims  De  Toqueville,  with  pro- 
phetic rapture,  "  when  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  men 
will  be  living  in  America,  equal  in  condition,  the  progeny  of 
one  race,  owing  their  origin  to  the  same  cause,  preserving 


33 


tlic  same  civilization,  the  same  langnago,  the  same  literature, 
the  same  religion,  the  same  habits,  the  same  manners  and 
imbued  with  the  same  opinions,  propagated  under  the  same 
forms  !  The  rest  is  uncertain,  but  this  is  certain ;  and  it  is  a 
fact  new  to  the  world,  a  fact  fraught  with  such  portentous  con- 
sequences as  to  baffle  the  eftbrts  even  of  the  imagination  !" 

What  a  picture  for  the  contemplation  of  the  American 
scholar,  statesman  and  patriot  ?  And  who  does  not  desire — 
earnestly,  ardentl}^  desire  its  full,  ample,  complete  realiza- 
tion ?  Who  amongst  us  is  unvv'ilhng  to  labor  for  its  accom- 
plishment? Who  would  extinguish  those  high  hopes  that 
are  rousing  man  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe  from  the  sleep 
of  ages  ?  Who  wishes  to  see  that  bright  star,  wdiich  is  guid- 
ing the  empire  of  freedom,  of  science  and  civilization  to  the 
west,  shoot  from  its  position  and  go  down  in  darkness  ? 

If  we  hope  to  realize  those  high,  anticipations  ;  if  we  wish 
our  descendants  to  enjoy  the  blessings  which  we  now  enjoy ; 
if  we  desire  the  fulfilment  of  the  high  destiny  that  is  prom- 
ised us,  we  must  defend,  preserve,  perpetuate,  unimjpaired^ 
that  constitution  which  has  been  transmitted  to  us.  That 
only,  under  the  hlesslng  of  God,  can  save  us!  That  founda- 
tion is  of  rocJc — all  else  is  but  drifting  sand,  to  be  swept  away 
by  the  first  storm  of  agitation  !  When  Koman  liberty  had 
been  cloven  down,  and  those  who  had  defended  it  to  the  last 
were  commanded  to  declare  their  adhesion  to  the  tyrant  who 
dealt  the  fatal  blow,  then  it  was  that  her  immortal  orator  ex- 
claimed :  "  I  will  not  give  to  Caesar  what  belongs  to  my 
country  !" 

We  cannot — we  dare  not  surrender  one  jot  or  tittle  of  that 
constitution  to  the  demands  of  sectional  ambition  or  the  mad 
behests  of  fanaticism  !  It  is  that  which  has  made  us  what 
we  are — a  prosperous,  happy,  powerful  people.  Under  that, 
and  l>y  that  we  are  content  to  live.  It  will  guide  us  to  a  still 
higher  degree  of  national  prosperity  and  glory.  It  will  prove 
an  impenetrable  shield  to  our  rights,  our  honor,  our  safety. 
But  if — which  heaven  forbid  ! — the  dread  conflict  witb  fac- 
tion and  fanaticism  nmcst  come,  let  us  appeal  to  the  example 
of  the  immortal  Washington,  to  inspire  our  hearts  with  pa- 
s' 


34 


triotism  to  meet  the  crisis,  and  to  the  just  God  of  onr  fathers, 
to  lead  us  through  that  conflict,  and  give  us  courage  to  face, 
and  fortitude  to  bear,  the  direful  consequences  which  may 
follow  1 


